🌽 Eat More Plants: Issue #39
Hi friends,
Last week I rediscovered huevos rancheros.
It started because I wanted to cook up some black beans, and then I found a new-to-me cornbread recipe using sourdough discard. Add some eggs, pico de gallo, hot sauce (always habanero) and a bit of grated cheddar and we had a meal. Which we ended up eating multiple nights in a row (there were lots of beans), it was so good.
I think of huevos rancheros as a formula more than a recipe. (Traditionally, it's probably simply corn tortillas, eggs and salsa.) Some kind of bean, some eggs, some kind of corn-containing carb, a salsa, a side vegetable, maybe some cheese. If you're vegan you can cut out the cheese and egg – no longer huevos, but still a fine meal. Lately I've been liking black beans really soupy, which probably only works if you cook them from dried. Just keep the beans and the cooking liquid and it will all thicken up nicely.
It's yet another example of a favourite meal that falls off the routine and gets forgotten about. I've tried a few different methods of organizing the greatest hits, and none of them really seem to stick. Do you have a trick that works?
Recent favourites
Scrambled tofu has been appearing in vegan cookbooks for decades and I never really liked it. But then I tried this version using silken tofu, and it was a revelation. I've always found the tetra-pak silken tofu to have a weird flavour, so if you can, I recommend buying a fresh kind from an Asian market. The ones I've been buying come in plastic-wrapped tubes.
This easy steamed tofu dish from Hetty McKinnon's book To Asia, With Love is excellent, much better than you'd think with such a simple list of ingredients.
We really enjoyed these mushroom tacos. The mushrooms are tossed in a spice paste and then roasted, which I found interesting. You definitely want good soft tortillas for this one, and don't skip the toppings. We turned the leftover mushrooms into quesadillas, which was also nice.
Quick hits
It's kind of out of season, but this fresh ginger cake is one for the ginger lovers.
Miso banana bread is the best banana bread.
I need to try Julie Van Rosendaal's tofu salad sandwich.
This pasilla chile and lime cabbage slaw remains one of my favourites, even if I've never actually made it exactly as the recipe calls for.
Want dip for dinner? How about lima bean hummus?
The Yves Spicy Italian sausages are really quite good. I've been enjoying them on a bun with sauerkraut. Which maybe is weird? Is there a sauerkraut zone in northern Italy?
I'm reading
“It’s that diversity of gut microbes that gives you a diversity of chemicals and, we believe, a healthier immune system and a better metabolism.”
An update on food and gut bacteria that is helping justify my kombucha habit.
“Veganism goes beyond food and you can start small. The options available are so diverse!”
4 Canadian vegan influencers to follow on Instagram.
Wellness is an industry. It’s also a seductive distraction from what’s really impacting women’s lives.
Some thoughts on the problematic world of wellness.
We simply do not have enough land to raise all beef sustainably at current consumption levels.
Is there such a thing as sustainable beef?
As I sat with this shumai, the question hit me: Could dim sum aficionados give vegan dim sum a shot? And also, would vegans care for dim sum that mimics meat so well?
I'm very jealous of L.A.'s plant-based dim sum.
I'm writing
If feeding wildlife is wrong, why does it feel so right?
“How I found balance between art and commerce”
The footer
Eat More Plants is a sporadically published newsletter by Kat Tancock, sharing recipes and inspiration for vegetarian and vegan dishes, restaurants, products and more. Please reply with your own tips so I can include them in a future issue, and send this newsletter to your friends.
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